Local Republicans rally for presidency at annual Lincoln Day dinner

Steamboat Springs  Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that State Treasurer Walker Stapleton did not win every county except Routt County in the 2010 election.

Routt County Republicans gathered Saturday night at the Steamboat Springs Community Center with the hopes of taking back the White House in 2012.

About 50 people attended this year’s annual Lincoln Day potluck dinner. The Republicans use the event to socialize and to rally behind issues with the hopes of taking more seats in political offices.

“It’s important that we stand for principles, but it’s also important that we keep that door open,” Ryan Call told the Republicans. “Let’s be friends.”

Call is the chairman of the Colorado Republican Central Committee and was trying to drive home the point that Republicans must be united if they plan on beating President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.

“He does not have something we have,” Call said. “We have the right principles, but we also have the ability to get beyond the divisions between us.”

If it were up to Routt County Republicans, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would take the Republican presidential nomination. That was the party’s No. 1 pick during an informal vote during the dinner.

“That process starts today,” Call said. “We don’t have time to fight with ourselves. We have to move forward.”

State Sen. Jean White, R-Hayden, echoed how important unity was to the Republican party.

“We’ve got a strong message, and that is what is going to carry us through in 2012,” White said.

State Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, said the party has the ability to take more seats at the state level, as well.

“We can win more seats in the House,” Baumgardner said. “We will be able to win and hopefully take the Senate, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work.”

The keynote speaker during the dinner was State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, who Routt County Republican Central Committee Chairman Chuck McConnell pointed out did not win Routt County during the 2010 election. McConnell pledged that would change should Stapleton choose to run for re-election in 2014.

Stapleton, a former businessman, said he won the treasurer’s office without a day's worth of experience in political office.

Stapleton has dedicated much of his energy to Colorado’s Public Employee Retirement Association pension system, which he said is severely underfunded.

“The state of Colorado simply cannot afford the promises that are being made,” Stapleton said. “This, to me, is absolutely a critical issue.

“Unfixed, the pension system threatens to bankrupt school districts and local governments,” Stapleton said.

He said the mentality around the pension system problem is very similar to the national debt in that the problem is being left for future generations to deal with.

“This is a problem which we need to fix today, to stop the bleeding, stop the hemorrhaging,” Stapleton said.

Why are just republicans "fodder for comedians"?
Probably because the left does something for freerider that he/she likes sooooo much that he/she is willing to ignore the same quantity and quality of behavior in those individuals with whom he/she identifies.

The question is what percieved "bait" do they offer him/her to gain his/her utterly blind allegiance.?
It usually comes down to a few likely choices:
1. His/her pals in government confiscate wealth from others and give it directly to him/her or
2. they force an agenda (like environmentalism or socialist programs) on others against their will; something that freerider wants but, under the law is unable to achieve alone or
3. they attack things on freeriders' behalf which he/she hates; possibly capitalism, freemarkets, wealth, big SUV's... who knows.

I may be mistaken, but I remember about a year ago he said farewell to the Pilot bloggers with a witty backhanded remark that he was headed for Maui and that he was pretty sure that he had more money than we peons. If so, it must be pretty hard, burdened with being born into a system that enables you to winter at Steamboat and spend the summers on the sands of Maui. Apparently the only release from this crushing guilt is to vent hostility at the establishment, a recurring characteristic of his posts.

Thank God our betters, anguishing in their wealth, know how to lift up the underclass from their grinding poverty. Thank you Kennedys, and all the millionares in the Senate for showing us how venal we are when we want to keep our earnings for our purposes, when you, the isolated liberal elite, know how much better it can be utilized to create economic justice for the 'unwashed' and 'unenlightened', just not so just that we don't know our places.

1.Michael Moore makes 100's of $millions$ and is a Liberal Communist.
2.The kiddies who own facebook are billionaires and they are Liberals.
3.Jeffery Imelt the CEO of GE is on Barack Obamas cabinet, pays no taxes on $billions$ in profit, is using Taxpayer dollars to fund Corporate investments and is a Liberal.
4.Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.(the guy who attended the beer summit)Mr. Gates is one of the highest-paid humanities professors in the United States.
5.Al Gore, need I say more!
6.Former Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina preached about “two Americas,” one poor and abandoned, one wealthy and connected. Mr. Edwards should know because he built himself a gargantuan multimillion-dollar mansion in which he might better contemplate the underprivileged outside his compound.

Thanks hereandthere, I needed the refresher on how sooo many rich Liberals are hoarding all that dough that could be going towards social justice that you love so much.
And I looked up the new CEO of United Healthcare, which by the way was working with AARP and Obama to pass Obamacare, can anyone say bedfellows? Anyway, Mr. Hemsley may or may not be a R or a D as it his hard to tell by his political contributions, he seems to give to whomever he needs a favor from.
This is why America needs a new POTUS in 2012 who has proven themselves a fighter for the people willing to go up against big business, there is a lady who comes to mind and I know for sure she is NOT a Liberal.

Which lady John? Michelle Bachmann? Or are you saying that a woman is not worthy or capable of not only defeating Obama but doing a great job and saving this country?
You shouldn't have a beef with either great lady.

What business is it of yours, Hereandthere, what the CEO of a private company earns?

Do you think his salary is money that would otherwise be directed YOUR way?

I think thats EXACTLY why leftists hate it when CEO's earn big money; because they feel that if only some of that money was confiscated by the government then, somehow, some of it could wind up in THEIR hands.

They are far too short-sighted to see that the CEO of United Health Care could move his entire company to another country and leave not only hereandthere empty-handed but its thousands of American employees too.

If he makes what hereandthere claims then he pays more taxes in one "fart" than hereandthere pays in a lifetime, no?

Ha ha. Sure not hard to push these guys buttons. I just thought that it would be beneficial to mention an example of the omnipotent rich that you "conservatives" tout as saviors of the American way. The wealth keeps getting re-distributed up, CEO's compensation as a ratio to their employees wages keeps going up, all because we're to believe that these individuals are gods gift to the country and will make the important decisions that we need to move our economy forward. Sorry, but I don't see that happening.

See list above for left wing rich hypocrites or shall I add a few more for ya hereandthere?
Venezuela may be a nice place for you if you want to live in a purely Fascist state so bad.
And check out how rich Union members in California get when they retire on the Taxpayers dole.
http://calcoastnews.com/2011/02/riding-that-vacation-pay-gravy-train/

This is the crap that is destroying this Country, and this WH is in bed with the Unions.
Vote accordingly in 2012.

What I "tout" is freedom; real, actual freedom. It works! That means leaving people alone and not blocking their path to prosperity OR to poverty.

If a person then makes himself rich, poor or middle class so be it.

Tell me something Hereandthere; You and another person go into the same store on the same day to buy groceries. You each buy the EXACT SAME items.
The other person is charged $20 but you are charged $40. Is that fair? It turns out that you had more money in your pocket than the other guy so you were charged more.

Thats what happens every day when people buy government, they are charged different rates not according to what they get, but according to what they have in their pocket. And the person more likely to have purchased LESS government services is the one who pays the most.
That's what leftists "tout" and what I abhor.

I think the whole country should get a waver from Obamacare through a repeal immediately!!!
If this crappy law was so good why is it that all the Unions and all the BIG BUSINESS pals who support Obama are getting a free pass on this piece of $h!+?

You should focus on that hereandthere, not one guys golden parachute, but the fact that this country is being drowned in Socialism, class warfare and favoritism towards the connected elites.

Gee that is a whole lot of credit to She Who Must not be nominated or the Dems win, as I can think of many people who said QE would not work. The fed is done and the federal govt better get its act together or we will see a latin american or Mugabe style currency crises.

Personally Palin is pimped by TPTB in order to ensure either they have someone they can control in the white house or Obama (who seems to have fallen in lock step with the old ways).

Simply that this woman can not win the big house or we have another post turtle in the oval office as was Bush II, IMO..

Wow John, you seem to have some inside info here, what is TPTB and why do you have such a negative slant towards a woman being POTUS?
There isn't anything about Sarah Palin that indicates she is anything but a Conservative, non conforming, non connected independently thinking and proven strong, smart and able to get hard common sense issues resolved. Like it or not, she did great things for Alaska and held the highest favorable ratings of any Gov until she was picked by McCain and the leftwingers started their campaign against her.
She has withstood the harshest of attacks from the George Soros funded media and the 100's of lawyers that went after her from day 1. She made the hard choice to step down when it became untenable in her Governorship with all the bogus and frivolous ethics lawsuits which were emptying the Alaska treasury and BKing Sarah's personal account. She had her emails hacked by a connected punk who got a slap on the wrist, and even with that we saw a squeaky clean candidate, I would love to see the kind of secret conversations that the Marxist POTUS we have now has with people like Van Jones, Trumpka, Wright, Sunnstein and all the rest of his Commie czars.
I guess Tina Fey effected you as much as she did the other sheeple who believe the MSM garbage they have been fed. No one controls Sarah but Sarah. Prove me wrong on that with some real evidence.
I will be voting for a woman for POTUS whether it is Sarah or Michelle, but I would be willing to bet it is one of the two, just a hunch.
I am pretty sure that in November 2012 when you have a choice between a proven loser Socialist and a free market believing friend of the private sector like yourself, you will choose who is best for you and your family and the future of the USA as a Republic. You may not love it at first but as the health of our Country comes back and we regain our National identity as a great Nation you will come around.
Anyway.
Any sales to be found on your beef anywhere?

I would bet alot of money that you will NOT be voting for a female POTUS in 2012. Should the opportunity become available with either Bachman or Palin, your next President will be named Obama.

Bachman would have a better showing than Palin as she at least has some solid credentials. Not even Alaska would re-elect Palin and as much as she and her supporters like to blame the MSM, she made her own reputation.

I would expect nothing less from you Mr. trump Jr. That confirms it then, we are doomed to go down with the sinking ship of Obamazombies, eh?
I think not since Obama will have too much to answer for in the debates and the rest of America, not the far left of the aisle that you represent, will NOT vote for 4 more years of this nightmare.
Now go fill up your moped for $4 a gallon and tell me how Obama will overcome his support for Petrobras over US oil supplies, even Palin will be able to crush him on that one and you won't have Katie Couric with her condescending silly questions to use as media fodder this time around. Sarah is quite ready and has already stated that the gotcha liberal media won't get a crack at her like before, where is Charlie Gibson with his reading glasses 1/2 way down his nose anyway? And this race is for the POTUS not a return to a previously successful job as Governor, so that argument won't be of any effect. Try something else.

ooooh....Bachmann would be EVEN BETTER then the Wasilla PIG......here's a quick preview of the genius that is Michelle....:"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, on the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak that happened when Gerald Ford, a Republican, was president, April 28, 2009

While Obama was just reading his speech at the State Department outlining how he is now the President of the Arabs and how he will send OUR money to the Arabs and sell out the USA along with selling out Israel you guys are posting bogus LameStreamMedia generated quotes that won't make a difference in 2012?
Are there any good quotes by Obama that I can waste all of our time here posting? You betcha, but it isn't necessary because the actions of this loser will be on trial during the debates and he can't run from that. So bring it on ObamaZombies. Yes!